Rogue Cultivator Gathering Place

Xu Yuan stopped by the river and studied the opposite bank.

Figures moved inside a large shack at the front of the settlement, perhaps twenty or thirty people. Most were in the early stages of Qi Refining, with one or two in the middle stages. Even their auras were muddled and unstable.

Relieved, Xu Yuan walked forward without betraying a thing. His Green Wood Sacred Body stirred faintly, sealing away his life force. He let only the mixed spiritual energy of the fourth layer of Qi Refining show, making himself look like an ordinary Rogue Cultivator with a cautious streak.

The settlement was quiet, with few people talking. Several cultivators seated outside their shacks watched him pass with cold eyes. As they exchanged glances, there was no telling what they were plotting.

Xu Yuan headed straight for the large shack in the middle of the settlement.

He lifted the animal-hide curtain. The light inside was dim, and the air carried a strange mixture of medicinal herbs, blood, and mildew.

Another peculiar smell made Xu Yuan raise an eyebrow.

Ascension Pills. Those damned things were called the drugs of immortals. Swallow one, and for three hours you would feel as though you were floating up to heaven. Qin Yufeng had shown him one during an earlier conversation.

Xu Yuan shut off his sense of smell for the moment and stepped closer. A burly man with a fleshy face and a scar on his left cheek sat behind a battered wooden table. He was at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, his aura fierce. Beside him, a scrawny old man at the fourth layer of Qi Refining sat with his head down, fiddling with a few chunks of ore.

The scarred man looked up, his gaze scraping over Xu Yuan like a